Unlike AUKUS, the Quad grouping – India, the US, Australian and Japan – are unlikely to take active military measures to contain China’s ri...
Unlike AUKUS, the Quad grouping – India, the US, Australian and Japan – are unlikely to take active military measures to contain China’s rise anytime soon. Instead, the four countries have focused on deepening their bonds and taking measures to act as a counterweight to Beijing’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region, through things like collaborating on Covid-19 vaccines and efforts to address climate change.
The most recent Quad joint statement however, suggested there was one more front on which the grouping will be taking on China. “We are mapping the supply chain of critical technologies and materials, including semiconductors, and affirm our positive commitment to resilient, diverse, and secure supply chains of critical technologies,” the statement said.
Pranay Kotasthane, deputy director of the Takshashila Institution, has long advocated for the Quad to collaborate on semiconductors. Earlier this year, he wrote a paper making the case for a Quad semiconductor partnership, while flagging the big role India could potentially play in the complex global semiconductor supply chain.
That may sound like a dusty, wonky policy corner amid the bigger picture concerns of naval hardware and Chinese border aggression. But access to semiconductors has been a major policy focus for a number of countries of late, with some...
